By Yoon Ja-youngKorea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) will be compensated by the government for the early shutdown of its aged nuclear power plant as well as the cancellation of new reactor construction plans. Regions that will lose government subsidies for being the locations of nuclear reactors will also receive special support. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the measures for energy transition at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, Thursday, which focused on helping those that will lose as a result of the transition."Even if we go in the right direction, concerns rising during the process should be solved," the prime minister said. The energy ministry explained that it aims at successfully executing the transition to safer and cleaner energies by helping regions, industries and people hit by the plan. It includes compensating the state-run nuclear operator for the early closure of Wolsong-1. The nuclear reactor in Gyeongju had its 30-year operational life cycle end in 2012, but KHNP succeeded in extending it for another 10 years to 2022 by improving the facilities with a 592.5 billion won ($536.2 million) investment. KHNP recently decided to shut it down, however, according to the nuclear phase-out plan of the Moon administration which seeks to shift from nuclear and coal-fired plants to renewable energy and LNG power plants. The country already permanently shut down its oldest reactor Kori-1 last year. The KHNP had also invested 90.4 billion won into construction plans of Cheonji 1 and 2 in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province and 3.3 billion won into Daejin 1 and 2 in Samcheok, Gangwon Province. However, their construction was also scrapped, despite opposition from the KHNP union and local communities. KHNP will be selling the land it had purchased as a site for Cheonji 1 and 2. The 38 billion won subsidy offered to Yeongdeok in return for being the site for the reactors is also likely to be withdrawn. For communities that had been getting government subsidies for being the sites nuclear reactors, the government will inject a budget to support new regional development and income creation plans the residents want. The shutdown is feared to deal a blow to the regional economy as nuclear reactors have been their sources of income and jobs. In case of Uljin, which has six nuclear reactors, the industry contributes 50.4 percent of regional gross domestic product.The government is also focused on maintaining the ecosystem of the nuclear industry. KHNP will be expanding facility investment for nuclear safety to 1.9 trillion won from 1.1 trillion won for the 14 nuclear reactors that have been operating for more than 20 years. It will also inject 1.6 trillion won between 2018 and 2022 for R&D in nuclear safety as well as exports and dissolution of nuclear reactors. The government will set up a 50 billion won energy transition fund to support small and medium sized businesses in the nuclear industries to help them reorganize their business structure.KHNP will hire more nuclear engineering majors, pulling up their portion to 30 percent of its total employment from the current 13 percent.